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Bisqueware-lined walls and buckets of bright paint await sparks of creativity to bring them into full-colour radiance. At Vikki's Clay Art Studio, artists first select an unfinished piece of pottery or a fused glass project-in-potentia, and then set to work with provided tools, patterns, stencils, and glazes to create their own unique piece. Expert supervision is always on hand as guests decorate pots or piece together cut glass under expert supervision. Once finished, the pieces disappear into the studio's kiln and emerge ready for pickup after about a week. Private parties let crafters socialize over glass or bisque art while testing out ideas for a set of risqué tea saucers on pals first.

Though Tutor Doctor recognizes that every student is different, the company begins each tutoring relationship the same way. First, an educational consultant gathers information from parents, educators, and students themselves to create a full-fledged picture of their learning style, personality, and academic goals. Then, the company uses that information to pair the student with 1 of more than 100 carefully screened teachers or subject specialists to aid with current class work; prep for the SAT, ACT, and other exams; or bolster a shaky understanding of fundamental concepts—all from the convenience of the student's home or favourite swing set. After each session, emailed progress reports keep parents on top of their youngster's learning curve. Staff can also accommodate autistic and other special-needs students or aid college and graduate students via adult education.

King George Aviation Flight School's squadron of instructors use their decades of combined experience to introduce novice pilots to the skies. Official licensing courses range from navigation and mountain flying to radio procedures or instructor ratings, and their Discovery flights give beginners a taste of the skies while proving to nonbelievers that clouds are, in fact, made of marshmallow. The school also rents its planes to pilots for day trips and sells certain models.

Featured in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, BenchPrep's educational network prepares students to undertake difficult exams with confidence through innovative and interactive online content. Students can enlist in a field of study from BenchPrep's courses, forged with the aid of McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Wiley, and photocopies of Athena's classroom cheat sheets, to gain access to the site's comprehensive content, reporting, and score-analysis tools. Students cultivate their academic knowledge with content-specific reading material, videos, notes, bookmarks, customizable quizzes, and practice tests.
BenchPrep's innovative cross-platform technology allows online students to begin their studies on a web-based computer and continue their lessons in transit via iPhone, Android, or iPad. Lesson plans can also be downloaded to a smartphone device through the BenchPrep app to facilitate on-the-go learning without an Internet connection, handy for studying in signal-destroying subways or while time traveling to pre-WiFi locales. Upon completion, students receive a digital completion certificate.

Udemy eliminates the barrier of entry to higher-level learning with online courses taught by experts from around the world. Award-winning authors, educators from institutions such as Harvard, and successful entrepreneurs host popular classes for students of all ages to revitalize their career or get a jump-start on new learning. Classes range from exploring product development with Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, iPhone app design, Microsoft Excel 2010 beginner/intermediate or advanced training, and principles of web development. Thanks to the online format, students learn at their own pace and take breaks to go to work or feed their computer.

When learning a foreign language, spoken conversation is one of the most important skills?and one of the most difficult to master. That?s why Rocket Languages? online courses focus on listening comprehension and pronunciation, rather than dry written work, using techniques that let students learn a new tongue in as little as half the time of traditional teaching methods. No matter what their experience level, students can practice chit-chatting in one of 12 available languages, including Hindi, Mandarin, Spanish, and Italian, or engage with English-as-a-second-language courses designed for native Spanish or Japanese speakers. With lifetime access to their chosen courses, participants have unlimited chances to practice more than 30 interactive audio activities per level, and time to take in enrichment lessons on cultural topics, such as how to cook a country?s cuisine or identify its soil by mouthfeel. Though the lessons are administered online, they don?t lack a human element: a native speaker hosts each course, bilingually guiding students through the material.
Rocket Languages had been positively reviewed by The New York Times even before a major 2012 upgrade that introduced games and apps that are compatible with iPhones, iPads, and Android tablets and smartphones. Since then, these interactive improvements have garnered an Editors' Choice award from PCMag and a BESSIE Award for Best Foreign Language software. Popular features include Rocket Record, where users can record their pronunciation of phrases and compare them to recordings of their tutor saying the same phrase, and a progress tracker where students can compare their progress to other students in the same level.